While his son Liam’s ski team grabs some fresh powder on the slopes of Ajax, Mitch Mulhall takes an opportunity to pay homage to one of Aspen’s icons. “In the center of gondola square stands a bronze statue of a youthful-looking Friedl Pfeifer. My son leaned his skis on a rack not three feet from this statue this morning without so much as realizing it was there,” writes Mitch. “Arguably, every kid who has learned to ski in this valley should know about Friedl Pfeifer.” Presumably Liam got more than a ski lesson this day.
For the first time in twenty-nine years, the Glenwood Springs Demons have claimed the State 3A Football championship by defeating the Ft. Morgan Mustangs by a score of 23 to 14. After a scoreless first quarter, it became clear that both teams would have to stretch themselves in all phases of the game to come out on top. A defensive powerhouse that held opponents to an average of 14 points a game, Ft. Morgan made Glenwood punt on their first possession. Nevertheless, Glenwood drew first blood on the first play of the second quarter, followed shortly by a field goal to go up 10-0. Ft. Morgan answered back by taking to the air. At half the score was 10-7. The teams traded touchdowns in the third quarter, and the score remained 17-14 well into the fourth. But the 3-point gap widened to 9 when Stonehouse scored on a 7-yard run with 48 seconds remaining.
We had entered the “practice” portion of the “Women’s Health Conference: From Theory To Practice”—and that meant a group of us was walking in the woods to the Rio Grande Trail and thence into Clark’s Market in Aspen with Dr. Bob Vogel, the University of Maryland professor of medicine who doubles as chief of medicine for the Pritikin Longevity Center and Pritikin Research Foundation.
The idea of the conference, sponsored by the forward-thinking Aspen Center for Integral Health (acih.org) was to dig down deep into what goes down in the real world. Thus: the walk, a moveable lecture about what remains for us to feast upon in the healthiest of worlds.
For more than a decade, Bob and Tish Lockard have inspired the children of the Roaring Fork Valley by teaching the discipline of alpine ski racing through the Buddy Werner program at Sunlight Mountain Resort. That’s right. Slalom, Giant Slalom, and Super Giant Slalom, served up on a palette of genuine enthusiasm designed to appeal to children ages 5 to 95. While most Buddy Werner participants are children ages 5 to 12, Bob and Tish have made Sunlight’s Buddy Werner program an art—a way for willing parents to actively participate in teaching their children to ski. While the focus of the Buddy Werner program may be ski racing, I find myself one of the fortunate few who have learned that where Bob and Tish are concerned, the only real metric is helping a child find self-worth and confidence through skiing.
It is amazing how one group of college students can enter one’s heart so quickly and easily. That is what they did for everyone with whom they performed yesterday. We started at Aspen Elementary School for an all-school assembly. After lunch, the choir worked with the Aspen High School choir who recently performed at Carnegie Hall in February. I felt very emotional as the two choirs blended, side by side to work on a new piece. The same was true working with the Glenwood Springs Varsity choir. Sitting between the two choirs, I was overwhelmed by a wall of beautiful voices singing together.
Since these are college students I though it would be interesting to hear some of their thoughts....
Aspen Music Festival and School Director of Educational Outreach Deborah Barnekow is on the road with the Colorado State University Concert Choir this week. The following is a today's entry from Glenwood Springs:
There is something so exhilarating in bringing a large group into the schools. The Colorado State University Concert Choir arrived last night in Glenwood for 2 exhausting days working with the high and middle school choirs in the valley and to perform for our two PLUS (adopted) schools. I have such respect for the choir directors and their dedicated students.
The first hurdle is finding them a place to stay and some food along the way during the day. In asking families to host choir members in their homes, I have met many new and generous people to whom I am grateful. My thanks also to Aspen and Basalt High Schools for hosting the group for lunch the two days.
As I climbed on board their bus upon arrival last night to welcome them, I was a bit overwhelmed by their faces of dedication to the task I am asking of them. I look forward to getting to know each of them. They will perform a free concert on Tuesday night, March 11, at the First United Methodist Church in Glenwood Springs at 6:30 pm. I hope to see you all there.
When Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and initiated the arduous, too-long-in-coming eradication of Jim Crow laws, I was four years old. Whether a part of my nature or a function of the ideas poured into the blank slate of my nascent mind, as far back as I can remember the idea of owning another human being has been as much of an anathema as the idea that skin color is a basis for a meaningful difference...
."WASHINGTON (AFP) — US President George W. Bush signed a two-year, 168-billion-dollar economic stimulus package on Wednesday, hoping it would deliver "a booster shot" to an ailing American economy." You would never run your household this way.
The politician, taking advantage of a great photo-op to show his dedication to federal funding of education, stood in front of the 5th grade class he was addressing.
I recently had the pleasure of conversing with Mr. Conman on his radio show concerning our military. I would simplify our positions thusly: The Conman feels we are wasting resources preparing for threats that do not exist. (Michael please correct me if I am in error.) My contention is that we need a strong military as a deterrent to any threats that might develop.
I have always been active in politics, usually in my own roundabout way. And I usually find myself on the "fringe" of mainstream politics. This election has me involved more than ever due to my support of Ron Paul's message(s).
As a result I have talked to a large number of people I encounter in my day to day life. The number of people that remarked "I don't follow polictics" or some such statement is, to me, astounding. Translate those comments to "I just don't care and will accept whatever those who are elected shove down my throat."
One of the ruses employed by in-the-know illegals (and they are as a group surprisingly "in the know") is to claim a large number of dependents because this increases the net size of their weekly paycheck. This works well for them insamuch as they often have no intent whatsoever to ever file an income tax return because it is their plan to have moved on to another employer, and another, and each and every time they arrange to have the least amount of money deducted from their checks....after all when tax time comes, they don't care that their single status would require that they make up the less than appropriately withheld difference...they won't be filing or paying taxes anyway. In other words, the only shot that the government gets at their income is through the deductions that come in for each pay period, and this little maneuver has side stepped that access to those taxes rightfully due from the illegal.
